Baghdad AL-THAWRAH in (in Arabic) — Column by Hasan al-Kashif: “America Dispenses Death, Not Bread in Somalia”

U.S. invaders cannot afford to dole out bread to the starving people of Somalia, but they can give them bullets aplenty. The Somali people’s abhorrence of U.S. occupation seems to be a good enough reason for international legitimacy to give the Americans a license to kill at will.

It does not take long to unravel U.S. lies. Even simpletons can tell that, far from being a member of a humanitarian organization administering bread and medicine, the Yankee in Somalia is a heavily armed soldier.

It has dawned on the countries that have fallen prey to latter-day U.S. occupation that, even if they were to go as far as trading their sovereignty for American goodwill, the United States will never fill the empty stomachs of their people. U.S. sidekicks, who have thrown in their lot with the United States, are also stumbling into the realization that being in the good graces of their American masters does not deliver bread, but will bring in hunger, chaos, and economic havoc. What is taking place in Russia now speaks for itself.

We are now seeing a national awakening in Somalia, where the people are shooting at the invaders instead of at each other. The American invaders are now running away from face-to-face battles, choosing instead to engage in intense daily aerial bombing. In this American age, to which traitors and advocates of safety at any cost have resigned themselves, some Third World countries are acting as U.S. proxies in dispensing death and repression in Somalia. They are doing the dirty work for U.S. forces and acting as their human shield.

The role played by the forces that allied themselves with the Americans at Hafar al-Batin is no different from that played by those who joined U.S. forces in Somalia.

Arab and international public opinion have now come to realize that the blue helmets can’t provide cover for the U.S. invaders’ agenda anymore. With the United Nations now little more than an organization rubberstamping U.S. decisions, it is not surprising that the Somali people are shouting: Down with the United Nations. The United Nations has failed the test in Somalia just as it did in Iraq. Along with the United Nations, other major organizations have also failed in Somalia. As an Arab, African, and Muslim state, Somalia has been let down by the Arab League, the OAU, and the Islamic Conference Organization.

Anxious to secure for itself a monopoly over decision making, the United States-now an openly colonial power is bent on toppling all institutions that have struck an independent course over the past five decades so that they have no choice but to capitulate. Only agents and waverers will capitulate, however the worthy will continue to stand tall.

But in this age of Saddam Husayn, U.S. colonialism will not be allowed an open season. Gigantic Iraq has its own agenda, message, and leader, and the 30-state aggression and the siege have failed to make any dent in the Iraqi people’s resolve.

_{^{FBIS-NES-93-117, 21 June 1993, pp. 38-39}}